Davis Heslep

Davis Heslep a mixed-race arts administrator, educator, producer, and media artist from Somba Ké (Yellowknife), NT Canada. From 2010 – 2022, Davis worked as programming and outreach director for the non-profit media arts organization Western Arctic Moving Pictures (WAMP). In 2014, Davis developed the traveling workshop Hackspace NT which aimed to develop the digital skills of young northerners through hands-on workshops on VR/360 video, game design, modular synth building, 3d modeling/printing, and other forms of digital fabrication. Davis was the representative for WAMP’s partnerships with The Initiative for Indigenous Futures (Concordia, Quebec), Inuit Futures (Concordia, Quebec), and Dechı̨ta Nàowo (Yellowknives Dene First Nation, NT/University of the Fraser Valley). In 2021, Davis was instrumental in hosting the 4th Symposium of the Future Imaginary for the Initiative for Indigenous Futures and the exhibition Rooted and Ascending.

As a media artist, Davis incorporates the use of both discarded and contemporary technologies as a way to create experimental work. Davis has been a part of solo and collaborative exhibitions at the Vector Festival (Toronto, Canada) ArtArctica Festival (Helsinki, Finland), Imaginative Film Festival (Toronto, Canada) Fantasia Film Festival (Montreal, Canada), VIVO (Vancouver, Canada), and more.